Saturday, 10 October 2009

Vegan MoFo: Selfridges and InSpiral.

I am STUFFED! So full of good food! The last 24 hours have literally been a food fest, and my tummy is very happy, if not bursting a little! Last night my boyfriend had another one of his desperate Mexican cravings (he gets these a lot, particularly after we visited Dolores in Berlin, which hosts the best burritos in the WORLD!) so we decided on fajitas, which are totally one of the best, and easiest, foods to make for dinner. I sliced some peppers and onion and fried them slowly with Cauldron's marinated tofu, and the seasoning cap of a Discovery fajita sauce jar. Cheating? Yes. Delicious? YES!Then we poured in the sauce and let it simmer, whilst shredding some crispy iceberg lettuce and onion. We wrapped it up (get it? do you SEE?) with some guacamole, yum!

For lunch I wanted to use up the rest of the bacon from a previous BLT blog, so we had BLT wraps with houmous, and some amazing jalapeno tortilla chips. I tried to eat light because we were going out for dinner, but this didn't work and I polished off nearly the entire bag of crisps. WOOPS.

Dinner was booked for the amazing and wonderful Bustaurant that is Routemaster, just off Brick Lane. But NO they were fully booked (yes the food is that good) so we headed off to town to do some shopping and decide on dinner later. I went to Selfridges for the first time, tried on some beautiful Vivienne Westwood perfume, and visited the foodhall. Oh my! It was like a dream. American Oreos!! Are the double stuffed ones vegan? I wasn't sure, but please say that they are, I want to purchase them!! The selection of vegan food was very impressive; yes there are stacks of cheese and meat and fish and things I don't even want to think about- but their houmous, oh the houmous! Basil houmous, spinach houmous, houmous houmous...! Falafel, olives, pastry things, nutty things, parcel things! Turkish delight! I could have gladly spent a weeks wages in the foodhall, and one day we shall return and have a selection of these goodies!

So for dinner I FINALLY got to try InSpiral Lounge in Camden! I have been dreaming of this place for what feels like years! We got there fairly late for dinner, and on a Saturday night it was quite busy. It's a bar with a DJ and some people were eating, some were drinking, and some were tripping. It had a pretty nice relaxed atmosphere, and reminded me a lot of my Brighton friends, which made me miss them- and Brighton- even more. The staff were approachable and friendly, and you didn't feel like you were their 700th customer. They took the time to make sure your meal was what you want, and filling.They offer six options of main meal, which come with 2 side orders and a pot of houmous of vegan mayo. You can add bread, olives and extra salad for extra pennies. I chose a green thai curry, with quinoa and wedges, and a pot of houmous. My boyfriend had vegan lasagne with salad and wedges, and an extra bowl of olives. With a can of organic cola the meal came to around 15 pounds. Fairly pricey but we got quite a lot. The only downside was that his meal (and the 5 other options) were kept in a heated cabinet, which meant his lasagne was luke warm, not piping hot like my curry, which was kept in heated trays with the wedges and other side orders. The olives were fantastic. For dessert we had to try the ice cream, and had a scoop of the strawberry with strawberry pieces, and the butterscotch. It was smooth and creamy and so good! We also bought a chocolate chip cookie, and a black forest cookie, which had cherries and white chocolate pieces. You can see why we're stuffed! The desserts came to around 7.50.

The also offer cocktails, juices and other soft drinks, chilled desserts, wonderful looking truffles, muffins... They all appear to be vegan, so all in all what a great place! I would like to return during the day when it's a bit quieter and more relaxed, to enjoy a coffee, sit outside and watch the water run past you.

I checked the packet on the Oreos and couldn't see anything obviously wrong with them, but wasn't sure. They also have an Australian section, maybe I'll find them there!? I'll check out the Newman-O's too!!x

I tried Vita Organic for the first time last week, cant believe I've never been there before! Felt so good afterwards; so healthy and yum! xx